Photo: sachoben · CC BY-SA 2.0Indio at work: jobs, income and the commute
For jobs and income Indio is better than 49% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (B+). Home is the office for 5% of workers; California has 17%. About one in seven work in Indio itself; outside it, Palm Desert draws the most (11%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Indio and work: the main findings
Indio has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Indio went from 13,142 in 2013 to 19,637 in 2023, +49%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Indio are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Indio
Job access by car holds Indio’s grade up (ahead of 62% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.5%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Indio could be anywhere from C+ to B.
What the 19,637 jobs in Indio are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Indio, 2013 → 2023: 13,142 → 19,637. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Indio’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 23 minutes in Indio
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Indio workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 38,266 commuters (the 5% who work from home are left out). Across California: 79% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Indio’s commute, mile by mile
About 35% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Indio by day and by night
On a workday 28,538 residents head out to work, 5,563 work right here, and 14,074 people come in from elsewhere.
About 80,000 people are in Indio on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.58 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Out of Indio to work: where people go
Where Indio clocks in
11% of workers
8% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
In Indio, most people drive to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.1% across California.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 40,340 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 53% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 16% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 73% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.0% of Indio households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Indio’s commuters take a bus or train.
318th of 473: where Indio ranks among U.S. towns of 66,000 to 127,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| 3 | Bethesda MD | 69,397 | $192K | 4.3% | 3.1% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Dublin CA | 71,602 | $214K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Berkeley CA | 121,911 | $108K | 17.3% | 5.6% | 21% | A |
| 29 | Mountain View CA | 85,438 | $190K | 6.0% | 3.7% | 16% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 316 | Eau Claire WI | 72,465 | $67K | 14.3% | 3.4% | 50% | B− |
| 317 | Port Orange FL | 66,395 | $74K | 11.0% | 4.7% | 14% | B− |
| 318 | Indio CA | 94,269 | $77K | 11.5% | 4.8% | 16% | B− |
| 319 | Lowell MA | 119,971 | $79K | 16.9% | 5.7% | 19% | B− |
| 320 | Tyler TX | 113,723 | $67K | 12.5% | 4.5% | 51% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 473 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | D |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Indio, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Next door is work for 12% of Indio
The biggest share goes to La Quinta (8%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Indio workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indio | – | B− | B+ | 23 min | $77,167 |
| Desert Palms | under 3% | C+ | C− | 25 min | $79,792 |
| La Quinta | 8% | B− | B+ | 26 min | $99,250 |
| Coachella | 4% | C | A− | 23 min | $68,596 |
| Bermuda Dunes | under 3% | B | B+ | 21 min | $90,818 |
| Indio Hills | under 3% | B+ | D | 27 min | $92,266 |
| Vista Santa Rosa | under 3% | B | B+ | 27 min | $70,474 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Indio’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Indio: questions
What is the median household income in Indio?
$77,167 (±$6,265) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Indio?
11.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Indio?
23 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Indio work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Palm Desert (11%, 7 mi), La Quinta (8%, 7 mi), Rancho Mirage (5%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Indio walkable?
Indio is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 10.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Indio without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 16% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Indio, from the people who make the trip.
More of Indio
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.